2010 Pruis II, with 54k Miles has Bad Inverter. 3-4 week wait

So do you get a rental car?

Do you drive the car hard?

 

Are they repairing it under warranty? I believe the inverter is part of the 8 year/100,000 mile warranty, but not sure.

I don't think that part fails very often. That's probably why there's a wait. For those out of warranty, the inverter can be bought used with good results. The inverter usually fails after an inverter cooling pump failure when the inverter overheats,

How long have you owned the car?

 

I had an inverter fail at 70k miles, albeit before the recall.

What symptoms did it give before failing? Did it drive at all after or was it just a paper weight? How did you get it to the dealers?

 

Good to hear they are fixing it under warranty. It's a shame you must wait weeks for the repair.

I believe it's just an unlucky failure. Inverters are not failing too often.

When JC91006 asked about a rental, I though he wanted to know if you bought the car used from a rental car company.

 

Sorry to hear about your failure and wait time. At least it is covered under warranty and you have a rental.

As part of the software recall Toyota extended the warranty on the Inverter Power Module (IPM) to 15 years. The IPM is a sub-module inside the Inverter Module and contains the power semi-conductors. The software modification was meant to reduce the rate of rise of current flow through these power components to help prevent failure.

Don't you have elevation changes around Fredericksburg? If so this could put a strain on the IPM more so than flat terrain. Yours may have been fatigued prior to the software recall, assuming that it may be the IPM that has failed.

Toyota has been replacing quite a few of these units and most have had a similar wait time as you.

Do you know whether the dealer says the failure is the Inverter Module or the IPM?

Good luck.

 

Did you use Power mode at the time or use it often? My inverter failed when in Power mode and I'd been driving the car briskley for about 20 miles.

 

I'm beginning to see a pattern. I've read in other posts their inverter failed accelerating towards the next hill right after regening down another. Seems like the spike between regen and acceleration fries something in the module.

 

I think for the most part, driving conservative, normal or hard is not going to change the wear and tear on the inverter. I don't believe your driving style made a difference.

My 2013 Prius has 47,000 miles and I'm driving near 20,000 miles/year mostly on the expressway (50 miles each way to work). I hope it lasts until 200,000 miles without a major repair. But if the inverter needs replacing before hand (out of warranty), I've seen used ones for about $400-500.

That cycle happens several times on a typical drive. Here is a picture of the inverter temperature up to 140 F. I see the temperature move quickly up and down every time it turns on and off.

View attachment 99116

 

That's how mine went. Enthusiastic driving for 20 miles, down a long gradual incline which then went really steep for 1/4 mile before stopping at the bottom. Set off again at the bottom, floored it to overtake a truck and pop - no inverter.

To risk duplicating what I've said elsewhere, roughtly a couple weeks or a month earlier the car made a loud and high pitched noise coming down that same hill. It was the same frequency as the normal Prius high pitched noise when braking, except it was loud enough for be heard over my music - which was loud! it lasted about 5 seconds. At the time I didn't know what it was, but with hindsight...

 

Do you know if that is for all owners? I recall (here) a few US owners got letters informing them their inverter warranty was extended to 15 years, but just case by case?

 

I do not know. I received the letter and you are correct that it stated it was on a case-by-case basis based on VIN and not open like some others.

Other than the testing Toyota did during the software recall I am not sure how they determine who gets the extended warranty and who does not!

I have not heard of anyone on here having an IPM or Inverter failure that has not been covered by warranty, though, have you?

 

Nope, without the extension, the Canadian warranty is 8 years or 160,000 km, so good for a while yet. 15 years sounds better though.

 

At my annual mileage rate I will be 100,000 miles at only 5 years old. If the need arises, I'll just have to buy a used one and install myself after the warranty. I have no worries though.

If the problem is stress/heat cycles on the electrical circuits in the inverter, perhaps my 35 to 50 mile expressway drive to work will not be too much stress. While monitoring the inverter temperature, I see it jump from 115 F up to 165 F sometimes. It happens within a few seconds of coming on, then quickly goes back down after it stops working/charging. The coolant temperature stays fairly constant. See post #14: coolant temperature 100 F and inverter 140 F.

 

Wonder why does the inverter warranty extension fairy only bless some of us??

Are you monitoring inverter temp with an XGauge on Scanguage? I should look into that.